(no subject)

[robinbloke]

If you like it, write it.


After ages of badgering by my good friend musingsofallama I finally got around to reading one of the big pile of books he had lent me. Or rather, I started the first (of four) and worked my way through the first chapter. The book in question being Hawk and Fisher, Haven of Lost Souls by Simon R. Green who I've already enjoyed books by with the fantastic Deathstalker Sci Fi series and a fantasy book called Down among the dead men.

But this book? It just didn't grab me; the characterisations were strong enough and you quickly got a good sense of what they were like. The descriptions are strong and paint a good picture, one of Mr. Greens talents. But. But I had no interest in the characters at all, it all sounds quite good: A husband and wife team of mean fighters working for the city guard investigating things, but after the first chapter I realised that I had little interest in if the characters solved the worlds evil problems or stuck their heads in buckets and made bubbling noises.

So, that got me thinking, what do I want from a character? Or rather what sort of characters do I like? Different genres demand different styles perhaps, so I thought I'd break it down into what I like for each style.

Sci Fi
I was never really interested in Sci Fi until I read Ian Banks. The genre hadn't really held any kind of pull for me at all. But now it's firmly on my favourite genre of writing list.
That said, Mr.Banks (and Mr.Asimov who I have been reading works from of late) work the technology and the people very well together. It's not all about using fancy gadgets to fix problems, people have to think still. There’s intelligence displayed beyond "Oh use the weeble-o-meter to fix the wossname field in the inverse thingy flux" of Star Trek, the problems are real and the ideas and solutions and characters take a forefront rather than the technology.
I suppose what I'm saying here is I like the backdrop of hi tech, big ships clashing in titanic battles, blaster fights, nifty scanners. But in the end I like intelligent characters who work out problems with their brains despite having a bleepometer to hand.

Fantasy
Now I'm a fairly nice person, at least I think I am. What has this got to do with the Fantasy genre? Well, it was the first real genre I started reading from; and I was looking for something different. Characters in fantasy worlds I like to be a little bit, well frankly, of a b@stard. I like to see the gritty underside of humanity doing things for selfish reasons even if it's ultimately for a good end.
I like assassins, spies, thieves and tricksters. Paladins, heroes and goody two shoes frankly don't grab my attention. The 'horah' of Hollywood (amongst other things) has dulled my interest in out and out heroes, I want characters with flaws and selfish goals, sneakiness and backstabbing. Now I notice I haven't even mentioned the backdrop of the fantasy world here (I keep adding a second 't' to fantasy and it worries me) but again it's the characters that are important, not the world. It's just a base layer before the pizza topping is added.

Two prime genres will do for now, I may add horror, modern and cyberpunk later... who knows.

Eat more popcorn

Comments

[enslore.livejournal.com]

I take it you've read Asimov's mysteries then?

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Not yet :) I've only just finished working my way through the fantastic Foundation series.

[enslore.livejournal.com]

Foundation series is a classic of course, but if you like characters who work things out within the parameters of the explained sci-fi I totally recommend his mysteries. It's a compnedium of short stories so you can fir one in here and there amongst other reading. I think you'll like them.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Will do, ta :)

[silja.livejournal.com]

In my usual "this has nothing to do with the above entry" way:
How not to look like a penguin (heavens know why WE'd want to know that though :*): http://tcow.keenspace.com/d/20020718.html

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Yay, penguins :D

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

I too Gemmelled myself out as well :( I still own everything he's done as a point of principal however.
SciFi wise I highly recommend Simon R Greens Deathstalker series and if you haven't tried the Foundation series by Mr.Asimov I can lend you those, and they are really quite good.

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

Eddings- I had a go at 'Polgara the Sorceress' some time ago. Now generally, I find that fantasy makes for good holiday reading, where one can lie in bed for hours & lazily & quickly read through tomes of books. With 'Polgara' that didn't work. After all the rave reviews for Eddings I was expecting an entertaining read, perhaps with a few twists. Nevertheless, I found it virtually impossible to keep even slightly interested in the story. Polgara was a self-satisfied know-it-all, while all the other characters were a little dull & two-dimensional. After about 100 pages I gave up. It still sits on my bookshelf, unread, but I have no intention of going back to reading it. I tried again this year, having bought it a few years back, and quickly remembered why I hadn't bothered finishing it in the first place. That said, I did quite enjoy the Elenium & Tamuli trilogies, even if they are rather predictable & very much in the Sparkling-Hero-with-one-or-two-token-flaws mold.

What I did enjoy reading recently was the four volume 'Otherland' series by Tad Williams. Started off with 'City of Golden Shadow' & continued with 'River of Blue Fire', 'Mountain of Black Glass' and 'Sea of Silver Light'. Some nice ideas, well written, and managed to maintain suspense throughout. I didn't like the ending, but then again that is almost inevitable.

On a slightly different Genre, I quite enjoyed Bernard Cornwell's take on the Arthurian legend.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Don't get me started on David Eddings, dear me... ;)

Tad Williams was okay, but the dragonbone chair felt like someone was attacking my brain with a lump hammer as I tried to get through it...

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Ta!

Have you read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson? Thats worth a lookup.

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

I can see where you're coming from, & in general I would agree that I want (more or less) realistic characters & an interesting storyline (actually, that is one of the things that makes Stephen King's books so gripping, that the characters generally have their fair share of flaws & tend to be anything but your traditional hero figure).

On the other hand, I just finished re-reading Charles Dickens' "Bleak House"- not really a story where the actual storyline is that gripping, nor are the characters such that one feels overwhelming sympathy or affection for them. However, the writing style is wonderful, and it is a pure joy to read the language, and how he manages to bring to life even the most mundane events, such as rain- After devoting an entire paragraph on how the horses in the stables might entertain notions of better weather, he then recounts the family dog's actions, while the family is away: "So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel, in the courtyard, with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine, when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing, and leaving him, at one time of the day, no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry, besides himself and his chain. So, now, half-waking and all winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the outbuildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present, and comes forth to see how it is. Then, with that impatient shake of himself, he may growl in the spirit 'Rain, rain rain! Nothing but rain- and no family here!' as he goes in again, and lies down with a gloomy yawn."

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Dickens is something to add to my ever growing pile of books to read...

[mazzarc.livejournal.com]

Highly recommend anything by William Gibson, inventor of cyberpunk. Another good cyberpunk one is Forever Peace but i can't remember who wrote it. I too am reading Asimov, Banks, Gemmel, A.C. Clarke, Tom Holt, Terry Pratchett... the list goes on.